Aerial propeller.



J. R. TYSON.

AERIAL PROPELLER.

APPLICATION FILED 1330.6, 1909.

1,041,91 3, Patented Oct. 22, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES INVENTO/i.

VM 4 5 cjmzarfiif $012,

J. R. TYSON.

AERIAL PROPELLER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 6, 1909.

1,041,91 3. Patented 0ct.22, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

film/E8359. I W 'x (k ATTOR/VE V JAMES R. TYSGN, OF READING, FENNSYLVANIA.

AERIAL @RCDEELLER.

LQMLLQELS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

ratenteaoeeeaieia Application hled December e, 1909. Serial rte. $31,491.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, James R. Trsou, a citizen of the United States, residing in Reading, county of Berks, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Aerial Propellers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is a drive wheel or propeller, the same being intended for pneumatic uses, more especially for the propul sion of aerial crafts, although said inven tion may be usedfor suction or blast pur poses in connect-ion with many kinds 'of pneumatic apparatus. A salient feature of a drive'wheel or propeller of this type involves the compression, to a substantial extent, of the air and the capacity of sending the current of air in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the drive wheel or propeller. In the operation of the device, there is a certain volume of air thrown outwardly by centrifugal force, in a direction substantially radial to the axis of rotation; but the radial displacement of air is restricted or confined by wings at the outer ends of the blades, said wings constituting, in eflect, additional propelling s irfaces for materially augmenting the propelling surfaces of the blades.

A characteristic feature of my propeller is the action ofthe wings, for while-they limit the outward-movement of the air current in order that it maybe acted on by the spiral and substantially radial blades, said wings curve gradually away from the blades. This is important for the reason that the air confined below the wing, or in the space between the blade and the wing, is free to escape at the rear or following end of said wing, so that the wing will release the air current in a certain direction and at the tip of the blade, whereby the pressure of the air current will offer practically no obstruction to the rotationof the drive wheel or propeller, which is an important factor particularly in the event of driving the device at. high speed, a speed of 1000 revolutions er minute being not unusual when the drive wheel is to be employed in the propulsion of aerial crafts.

As is well known, aness'ential factor in the construction of aerial craft-s resides in lightness in weight. combined with maximum strength. For these and other reasons, aerial crafts as heretofore constructed have'employed propellers, usually twin propellers, composed of wooden hubs and blades, each blade being narrow across the face. Such propellers have been of large diameter, six feet or more across the axis of their shafts, and to secure the requisite propulsive energy, it is necessary to drive them at a speed of 1000 revolutions per minute, or more, there by involving the use of relatively high power engines. Metal propellers have been considered by the constructing engineers of aerial crafts as being too heavy, and in designing my propeller, l have so proportioned the parts that the metal is distributed and reinforced for the purpose of securing maximum-strength with a minimum amount of metal. Accordingly, the hub of my drive wheel or propeller is skeletonized by coring out the shaft passage, and the blades are made quite thin, each blade having a plurality of integral ribs. The greatest line of strength of the blade is at the tip thereof for the wing thereon constitutes an arch which very materially stifi'ens the blade.

In the accompanying. drawings I have illustrated one practical embodiment of the section through the hub of the propeller illustrating the propeller shaft in elevation. Figs. 5 6 and 7 are detail cross sections on thelines 5-5, 6-6, and 7-7, respectively of Fig. 1.

My propeller or drive wheel embodies in its construction a hub, A, and a plurality of blades, B. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the propeller ordrive wheel is constructed with a series of three blades, but the number of blades em loyed is not material so far as concerns t-e several features of the invention. Obviously, the ropeller may be constructed with two bla es, or the blades ma be increased to three or four as desire, The'hub and the blades are, preferably, cast in a single piece for propellers or drive wheels-of certain sizes, but propellers of four, five, six or more feet in diameter may mam-1D 'from the working face, 5, of said blade.

The wing follows the general curvature or contour of the tip or outer edge of the blade, but for a part of its length the wing extends at a right angle to the face. 7), of the blade. Said part of the wing, indicated at c in Fig. l, is concentric with the axis of the propeller. so that part, 0, of each Wing is a section of a cylinder, the axis of generation being the axis of the propeller, as indicated between the lines, a, in Fig. 1. From the innerline, 0, each wing flares outwardly from the working face, 6, as indicated at c in Figs. 5' and 7 of the drawings, and shown more clearly in Fig. 1. In Fig. 6, wing, C, is shown as being in a plane at right angles to the face, I). of blade, B; in Fig. 7 the anglc of wing, C, is increased, whereas in F ig. 5 the angle is still further increased. From this construction it will be 'seen that the wing, C, changes in its relation to the working face, 6, of the blade, and that the part c of the wing between the inner dotted line, 0, and the rear edge of the wing constitutes what may be designated briefly as a section of a cone. The propeller or drive wheelrotates in the direction of the arrow, X, in Fig. 1 and, therefore, the part, c, of each wing constitutes the advancing, or entering edge of the wing. Accordingly, the flared or conical part 0 of the wing is the rear or following part of said wing.

The hub, A, is chambered, as at a, for the purpose of reducing the weight of the metal composing said hub. The hub is provided at its end portions with integral collars, a, which are positioned at the respective ends of the enlarged chambered part of said hub, see Fig. 4. 'llhe hub is provided with a taper bore which conforms to a tapered part, d, of shaft, D, see Fig. 4; said shaft being provided with a male threaded end portion. 05. The propeller or drive wheel is slipped upon the tapered part of the shaft, and it is made fast thereto by a key, E. nut, e, is screwed on the threaded end of the shaft, and said nut is held against displacement by a key or pin, 52, inserted transversely through the shaft, all as shown in Fig. 4.

whereby the propeller or drive wheel is attached firmly to said shaft, D.

The metal composing the blades and wings is quite thin in. order to, produce a The wing of each blade is integral oe-nets light weight wheel or propeller, but in order to strengthen the blades where they join hub, A, I employ ribs, F, F; Said ribs project outwardly from the rear face of the propeller, and they are integral with the blade,

said ribs being either solid, as shown in Fig.

the tips or outer edges of the blades, and the relation of said wings to their respective blades, the strongest part of the drive wheel or propeller is at the rim thereof for the reasonthat the wings constitute arches which materially strengthen the outer. ends of the blades. The employment of ribs on the rear faces of the blades operates to substantially increase the strength of said blades withoutmaterially augmenting the weight of the metal employed in the construction of the drive wheel or propeller.

lln operation the propeller or drive wheel is rotated at high speed. Screw blades, l3, act on the air or other fluid so as to drive the fluid acted upon in a direction substantially'parallel to the axis of the shaft, but there is a certain volume of fluid displaced in an approximately radial direction by the beating action of the screw blades. This outward andsubstantially radial movement a of the fluid is arrested, toa substantial extent,by wings, C, on the blades, and these wings act in a measureto compress the fluid, particularly if the latter be air. The inner advancing portions, 0, of the wings act largely tosecure the desired compression of the air, but the flare or taper of the wings,

said flare or taper, 0 being rearwardly of the concentric portions, 0, operate to release the air or other fluid, whereby the airwill be discharged rearwardly of the wings without any appreciable hindrance to the outflow of theeurrents of air. The propeller may thus be rotated at high speed without being subjected to resistance from the fluid, the radially movable currents of fluid discharging themselves easilyand' freely from the wheel or propeler.

My new propeller embodies multiple propolling surfaces in itsconstruction for the reason that each blade and each wing constitute propelling surfaces. Obviously, the screw blade will act to drive the fluid in a well known manner, and by giving the curvature of flare to the wings, said wings are provided on their inner surfaces with propelling surfaces. It will be" understood therefore, that the inner surfaces of the obviously, said invention may Wings augment the effective surfaces of the screw blades, and thus a double propelling surface is provided on each blade and wing, whereby the eflicienc of the drive wheel or propeller is material y increased.

. My invention possesses many advantages when used as a drive wheel or propeller for aerial crafts. The invention may be driven in a direction to force air toward the planes of an aeroplane for the purpose of increasing the air pressure against said lanes, and, e used in connection with other forms of aerial craft, such as dirigible balloons. Furthermore, the propeller or drive wheel may be used to establish or create a suction in certain kinds of pneumaticapparatus, and in other kinds of pneumatic apparatus the drive wheel may be employed to {generate a blast of air. While I have described the invention as especially adapted for aerial crafts and for general pneumatic purposes, it is to be understood that the invention may be used in other arts.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent ,is: I

1. A device of the class described comprising a hub, a lurality of blades, and a wing on eachbla e, the angle of inclination:

of each wing with respect to the blade increasing toward the rear of the wing, each blade being provided with ribs 011 the rear face thereof.

1 2. A device of the class described comprising a hub, a plurality of screw blades, and a wing extending from the outer edge of each blade, the angle of inclination of each wing to the face of the blade increasingtoward the rear part of the wing, each blade being provided on the'rear surface thereof with a plurality of ribs which converge toward the hub. i

3. A. device of the class described comprising a taper bore chambered hub, a plurality of screw blades, and a wing extending for,- wardly with respect to the working face of each blade, said wing being flared for the major part of its length at an increasing angle relative to the face'of the blade.

4,; A device of the classdescribed compris ing a hub, a plurality of screw blades, and

a substantially spiral wing at the outeredge. of each blade, said blades being each pro.-,

vided with a plurality ofribs, certain of said ribsvconforming to the contour of the side edges of said blade. v

In testimony whereof have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' JAMES-R. TYSON. Witnessesz- E. J. Moms, CHAs. R. l'junwm. 

